I happened to be in Cuba when Fidel Castro died. Since my return, it has been interesting to catch up with the assessments of his life and legacy in the British and American media.

Most have been very negative. Castro's revolutionary regime has certainly been guilty of some inexcusable violations of human rights, and Cubans I met were well aware of this.

Nevertheless, they still saw him as a national hero, who rescued Cuba from the tyranny of Fulgencio Batista's regime, and from decades of US domination. They were disgusted by Donald Trump's insulting comments.

Batista took power in a military coup in 1952, and suppressed opposition through torture and public executions. He did a deal with US mafia gangsters, allowing them to operate freely in return for a cut of their profits. Havana became a playground for decadent Americans, enjoying mafia-run casinos, brothels and drug-dealing outfits, while most ordinary Cubans lived in poverty, with high levels of illiteracy and very poor healthcare.

President Kennedy described US support for Batista as "disastrous," and condemned his regime as "one of the most bloody and repressive dictatorships in the long history of Latin American repression".

Unsurprisingly, Castro's 1959 revolution gained popular support, and the new government's achievements in literacy and healthcare were spectacular. Land and property were redistributed from rich to poor; Batista fled to Portugal with some $300 million of his ill-gotten gains, while formerly rich Cubans, deprived of their wealth and property, found refuge in Miami. Little wonder that they celebrated Fidel's death.

I very much hope that President-elect Trump does not undo the progress that President Obama has made in lifting the embargo, and improving US relations with Cuba - a beautiful island whose people deserve a better future.

Pete Winstanley, Durham.